Halaal pork?

Two Cape Flats Muslims have warned mense to check product labels carefully after finding “traces of pork” in their halaal sausage.

The wors was bought at Checkers in Kenilworth Centre and the two say they immediately asked staff about the sausage.

Although it had halaal stickers from the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) on it, the label read that the product “may contain traces of pork”.

After staff reassured them it was simply a labelling error, Nur Abrahams, 61, of Kensington, bought the dhanya beef sausage.

However, he still felt unsettled by it and threw the wors away, and later reported the matter to the MJC last week Tuesday.

Mymoena Allie of Grassy Park says she was put off by it and didn’t buy it after reading the label: “I thought it was weird and immediately asked the staff what exactly they were trying to say with the two opposite [contradicting] stickers. Ek mean ma, issit halaal of nie?”

The president of the MJC Halaal Trust, Sheikh Achmat Sedick, says he took it upon himself to investigate the matter the same day.

“Our senior area inspector confirmed that the sausage was [and is] halaal because it came from the halaal in-house butchery at Checkers, KC,” says Sedick.

“He established that it was an issue of incorrect labelling by one of the Checkers staff members.”

Spokesperson for the Shoprite Group, Jennifer van der Westhuizen, says they were aware of the incident and remedied it immediately.

“We apologise for having Halaal Dhanya beef sausages incorrectly labelled at Checkers, Kenilworth. The incorrect scale label was printed from a store scale mistakenly including pork as a trace item, which is not the case,” she says.

“In our business, label accuracy is of utmost importance and the matter was immediately addressed when brought to our attention. We’ve been in touch with the customer and have apologised for this error, giving the assurance that corrective action has been taken and we trust it won’t take place again.”

Nur blamed Checkers for employing “incompetent” staff.

“I think the shops either make genuine mistakes, but sometimes the staff just are not competent enough to get it right. It may seem like a small thing to some people, but it is not to me,” he says.

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